The surprisingly short history of movies about Shakespeare

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For being arguably the most influential storyteller in the English language, William Shakespeare is nearly absent in movies.Of course, there are endless adaptations of and riffs on his work — everything from Kenneth Branagh’s “Hamlet” to teen-centric modernizations (“O,” “10 Things I Hate About You”) — but as a central character, the Bard is basically a blank.Well, he was.

The hotly anticipated “Hamnet,” out Nov.26, imagines the writer’s inner life with vividly naturalistic detail.

Directed by Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”) and based on the 2020 novel “Hamnet” by Maggie O’Farrell, who co-wrote the screenplay with Zhao, the movie is already being tipped as a top Oscar contender by awards prognosticators.“Hamnet” traces Shakespeare’s (Paul Mescal) life from his courtship of wife Agnes (Jessie Buckley) through the raising of their three children.When his son, Hamnet, dies at age 11, it ignites the creation of a certain immortal play that sounds a lot like his name.

The larger point Zhao and O’Farrell are making is that the pain of losing a child echoes through centuries in what is widely considered Shakespeare’s greatest work.The reason so few movies dare to make Shakespeare the lead is simple: The records of his private life are scant at best.But we do know the basic facts laid out in “Hamnet” are true.

O’Farrell fills in the many missing pieces: the love, the anguish, the drive to turn real-life tragedy into art.It wasn’t easy.“I was so nervous that I actually put it off for a really long time,” O’Farrell says of writing the book.

“There was a large amount of vertigo.I’m taking on Shakespeare … He is quite a shadowy, mysterious figure.

And everyone has their own Shakespeare inside their head.”Before “Hamnet,” there have been only three major feature films focusing on William Shakespeare himself.Here, we cover t...